NBA All-Star Betting Odds: Celebrity Game, Rising Stars Challenge

Of all the major sports, the NBA All-Star experience is like no other and is probably the closest sporting event we have to the Super Bowl. This weekend is big and it starts tonight with the All-Star Celebrity game and the Rising Stars challenge.

The celebrity game is what it is. It’s hard to really pick a winner for this one as it’s hard to say who will play and how hard they will play. As a point as to how serious this game is, Kevin Hart is a multiple time MVP. The rosters for that game are as follows:

The West is favored by -3.5 here and I think that makes sense. This game won’t feature much defense which will be great for Baron Davis who is likely to still be a good three-point shooter. I like the Candace Parker, Nneka Ogwumike and Davis trio of professionals more than I like Jason Williams, Lindsay Whalen and Brandon Armstrong. Betting on this game is probably the definition of degenerate gambling so let’s not get crazy on this one.

The Rising Stars game has been one of the most fun parts of All-Star weekend over the past couple of seasons. The young players in today’s game are better than ever and the future has never been brighter. This game could challenge the real All-Star game for entertainment. The rosters for this one are as follows:

The US is favored by -5 here which I found to be a little bit surprising. While Towns, Russell, Turner and Booker are future stars and the rest of the team has a lot of potential as well, I think the World team is a bit underrated here. Porzingis, Saric, Lyles, Sabonis and (especially) Jokic are big men who can do everything and they should create some match-up nightmares. Not that defense is necessarily going to be played in this, but they can all nail the three and they should move the ball with ease. If I had to pick, I think I’m going with the World team in this one.